Cotacachi Intercultural Indigenous/Expat
Christmas Celebration

(Photos in this story are from previous years when
Linda, Gary, Ed and Joanne visited an indigenous village at Christmas
time)

You are invited to help bring joy to an
indigenous child’s Christmas with your donation to our yearly
Cotacachi Indigenous/Expat Intercultural Christmas Party.

In 2009 local leaders met for months
with me and Linda to discuss ways to improve intercultural
relationships between the growing expat population and the indigenous
communities. They were most enthusiastic about the idea for an
intercultural fiesta. The locals love to party and awaited this
event with much excitement.

The First Intercultural
Indigenous/Expat Christmas Celebration took place on Saturday,
December 19th, 2009. We celebrated the life we all
share with fun, good food, more fun, music and dancing.

Animal Cracker/Candy
Traditions

Typical gift-giving, with months of
shopping for lots of gifts, is not normally practiced in the indigenous
communities at Christmas. But the children have come to expect
one small gift—a little plastic bag tied with ribbon and filled
with animal crackers, hard candy, and if they’re lucky, a
chocolate bar. The reason for this is simple: Most
indigenous parents don’t have the financial resources to do
more.

For a child to go without this bag of
animal crackers would be like an American child not having Santa arrive
with his bag full of toys. So we expats played Santa and
brought a bit of joy to a large number of children. In return, the
indigenous communities gifted the expats with a day of
entertainment by the children and a feast of local foods.

In each of four villages, El Batan,
Asaya, Cercado, and San Pedro, the children of the villages
performed cultural dances, sang songs and gifted us with
enough smiles to warm our hearts for the rest of the year.

When we reached San Pedro, our final
stop, the villagers served a traditional meal which
included a taste of a specialty that is only served to honored
guests. That is the highly-esteemed cuy, know to us as guinea
pig.

Tour Details

We filled Christmas bags for over 1000
children in four villages. This was no small task. Volunteers showed up at the Eagle and Condor office on Calle Bolivar
right next to the cultural center for two days prior to the event.

It took about 15 of us most of
both days to complete the measuring of candy and cookies, stuffing of
bags, and then tying them up with ribbon. Then we had to count them and
pack them for the trip.

Then,
at 8:45 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 19,weboarded the Santa
Express, a bus that took us over the river and through the
woods to the indigenous villages. Leading the way was a pickup truck,
volunteered by one of the communities, carrying all the goodies and a
bona fide real-life Santa Claus, or as they say in Spanish, Papa Noel.

Fortunately, local expat Robert Baker
volunteered to be the fully-costumed Santa Claus for the children.

We ask for a donation of at least $45
per couple and $30 per individual to cover expenses. More is also
very much appreciated! Any donation is gratefully accepted, even if you
are unable to attend.

The local Cotacachi indigenous
organization UNORCAC, also asked us to solicit the expat
community to provide food baskets (rice, sugar, oil, salt, plus a candy
bag for each) for 150 indigenous women from 45 communities.

These are very deserving and dedicated
women who freely volunteer their time during the year as birth mothers,
community leaders, teachers of traditional cultural techniques and
other volunteer activities.

Any costs not covered is subsidized by
Eagle and Condor Internacional and by Rio Tuctara Investverde, S.A.,
our partner company.

Donation Opportunities

Any left over money from the Christmas
party is donated to the UNORCAC high
school scholarship fund.

I am going to write more about this fund
in a later blog, but in a nutshell, here are some facts. Only 30%
of indigenous sixth grade graduates go on to high school, and of those
30%, a very small percentage actually finish. Less than .02% goes
on to a university. The reason for such dismal statistics:
lack of economic means.

The good news: for only $16 per
month, or $192 per year, the three-year-old scholarship program will
send a deserving child on to high school. The
student’s parents will furnish the remaining $100 needed to cover
expenses. Just think about it: only $300 per year stands in
the way of a child's further education and his or her chance to rise
from poverty into a life of greater opportunity and success.

If you want to make a contribution,
please send a Pay Pal payment to gary@ecuadoredg.com.
If you don’t use Pay Pal, write to me and I will give you
instructions on how to donate. Any amount, large or small, is a
great help and can be combined with other donations until we have
enough for another scholarship.

Last year, all expenses were generously
covered by donations to the Christmas party, so Eagle and Condor
Internacional and Rio Tuctara Invest Verde each made donations of $192
to send a student to high school.

If you only want to donate to the high
school scholarship program, that’s okay too. Just let us
know. We, and the children, really appreciate your support.
And your donation will go far in showing the mayor, local government
and local population that we expats
are here to be part of their community.

Pictures
of Previous Events

Ed and Joanne Rogers and Linda and I
have provided Christmas bags for kids in outlying indigenous villages
for two previous years. You can look at a photo album of our
previous trips.